Yes, there is life after Windows XP

In a little less than a year, there will be no more updates for Windows XP users. Microsoft is ending all support around this time next year, despite nearly half of all users still using XP.

Can we live without updates? Sure. Easy. Updates are thought to be necessary to protect against hackers. However, with a good anti-virus and anti-spyware program, you should be fine. (Knock on wood.) The best freebies we know of are from Avast.com and Malwarebytes.org.

If you're moving on from XP, where should you go? Many people these days are buying tablets. That's great if you mainly just watch the screen, browsing the Web, for instance, but not so good if you do a lot of typing. If you plug a keyboard into the tablet and use it a lot, you may get what has come to be known as "gorilla arm." That is, your arm starts to develop a cramp from frequently reaching up to tap the screen.

Quite a few people in the computer business like Linux. There are several versions but they're all free, fast and don't crash. Unfortunately, it sometimes takes a little technical knowledge to get everything working properly, hence the popularity with those in the tech business. The latest Linux flavor is called Mint. If you burn it to a DVD, you can test-drive Linux without making changes to your computer. An additional program, called Wine, lets you run many Windows programs on Linux.

If your computer is a dud and you're in the market for a new laptop, a Google Chrome machine is a good choice. Nearly everything you do with the Chromebook takes place online. So if you mainly use a computer for email and Web browsing, which is what many people do, this is the easiest way. Chrome laptops go for as little as $200. We find ourselves reaching for ours whenever we're away from our office. The long battery life (about 6.5 hours) means it's usually ready to go.

Things are cheap now, computers especially. BestBuy.com is selling Windows 8 laptops for less than $300. Of course, getting used to Windows 8 is a pain in the nether regions for many. But we find that it's mainly a matter of learning to switch quickly from the screen with the big colorful tiles to the familiar desktop. Use the Windows key and the "D" key for that. If you get used to using the Windows 8 "search" function, and you pin your favorite programs to the taskbar along the bottom of your screen, you won't miss the old familiar "start" button. Go to Google and type "Windows 8 shortcuts" to get all the tips you need.

If you still can't stand Windows 8, but are stuck with it, consider StartIsBack, a $3 program. It returns the familiar "start" button to Windows 8. We've previously recommended Pokki or Start8 for the same purpose, but we've since uninstalled both of those. We're waiting for the Windows 8 update in August, which we hope will bring back the start menu.

Dim It

Can't sleep and feel like browsing with the computer? Boom, that bright screen will wake you up — and hurt your eyes. We finally learned to type to a different dimmer.

On laptops, it's easy to dim the screen. Just tap the key with an image of a small sunburst to dim the screen, and the key with a larger sunburst image to brighten it. Got it? Tap small sun to dim, big one to brighten. If you have an older laptop, you might have to tap the function key before hitting the sunburst key.

In Windows 8, changing the brightness is also simple. Open the "charms" bar by tapping the Windows key and the "C" key. Click "settings," then "brightness." For Windows 7, click "start" and type "power options" in the search box.

Now, back at the office and using a Windows XP desktop computer, the solution is not so simple. Not all monitors have brightness controls.

The control panel in XP is supposed to have options under the sub-menu "display" for dimming the desktop screen. But none of that worked for us. So we downloaded the free Monitor Brightness Reducer from Download.com. It stalled.

Another option is the tiny program Dimmer from NelsonPires.com. It worked well but did not dim the taskbar — the strip at the bottom of the screen — which remained a distraction.

Slip Sliding Along

WeVideo is a free app for making video and photo slideshows. It works on some Android phones and tablets, as well as iPhones, iPads, and the iPod Touch.

This is just about the simplest slideshow program we've tried. Drag photos or videos to the timeline, tap to make captions, choose a style, some music, and you're done. The themes are nice and include travel scrapbook pages.

Internuts

•Global.maker.good.is is offering five entrepreneurs the chance to go to Los Angeles and expand their ideas for making the world a better place. Go to the site to get the rules. It's part of the Global Neighborhood Challenge sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

•Popsci.com has an article on what to do with the miles of junk floating in the Pacific. It's called, "Plastic-Eating Drone Could Swallow Great Pacific Garbage Patch." An electric boat would tow a net to scoop the debris. We haven't gotten to the part yet, where something comes along to scoop up the nets.

•On the same page, Popsci.com has a link to an article titled "One Man's Giant Garbage Patch is Another's Beautiful Island Nation." Dutch visionaries are calling it Recycled Island. (Would it then be an independent nation?)